In the latest pulse-pounding thriller from Edgar and Barry Award finalist Mike Lawson, beloved Washington, DC, "troubleshooter" Joe DeMarco finds himself assigned an impossible case: help take down the president of the United States.
Brandon Cartwright was a rich guy worth a couple billion bucks-inherited, of course-meaning he hadn't worked a day in his life. But he sure knew how to party, and the people he rubbed shoulders with were all sorts of rich and famous: politicians and movie stars and British royalty and Russian oligarchs. So when Brendan Cartwright is executed in his own home, the cops quickly conclude that he was most likely killed by one or more of the rich, powerful people he partied with.
But when John Mahoney, the former Speaker of the House, emerges from a clandestine meeting with the head of the National Archives, he learns there's evidence suggesting that the President of the United States was somehow involved with Cartwright's death. Mahoney needs someone who can investigate from the shadows-enter Joe DeMarco, Mahoney's fixer.
DeMarco is no stranger to hunting down some of the very worst people Washington, DC, has to offer. In fact, he's made a career of it. But as evidence continues to point towards the president, DeMarco is faced with an impossible situation: investigating a man who is quite literally untouchable. Mike Lawson is a former senior civilian executive for the US Navy. He is the Edgar Award-nominated author of more than twenty novels starring Joe DeMarco and three novels with his protagonist Kay Hamilton. "When a rich Washingtonian known for his parties is murdered, John Mahoney, former Speaker of the House, discovers that the president of the United States could be involved. Joe DeMarco, a Washington fixer, is brought in to get to the bottom of the scandal while an aide works to stop him. Joe Barrett portrays the characters well, providing an engaged tone as the narrator, a slightly gravelly and sometimes indignant voice for the president, and a quiet, controlled, grace-under-fire personality for Emma, a woman who helps DeMarco. Barrett uses occasional foreign accents deftly. It's a race to the truth, and Barrett guides the listener well."
